


Almost

by monokuma_theater



Category: The Lorax (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 13:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8103238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monokuma_theater/pseuds/monokuma_theater
Summary: Your name is the Once-ler and a stranger crosses your path.





	

It had been a very, very, very long day for you and Melvin. You would have liked to keep going on but you knew that your animal companion wouldn’t be able to. He was already nodding off as the sun was setting over the yonder hill of sand. By the time you decided to stop he was practically sleep walking.

You stopped at a sandy dip in the rolling desert. There was nothing to hitch Melvin to, but that was alright, he was a good donkey. You felt bad… There wasn’t anything for him to graze on but you had thought ahead and brought feed for him. It wasn’t as good as fresh green grass but it would have to do until you two were out of the desert. Your knees were sore and your calves were cramped but you wouldn’t complain, you knew Melvin had it worst it would have been awful for you to complain when your friend was doing all the work. You hopped down from the wagon and patted your sleeping companion. He flicked an ear at you. You started to unload firewood that you had thoughtfully chopped up the last time you were in a forested area. You always made sure to plan ahead for things like this, at least you thought you always planned ahead for things like this.

You made a neat little circle with nearby rocks and carefully stacked the wood up like a jenga, a jenga of fire wood. The smile that was on your face fell. This made you think about home. You sort of missed it. You missed playing silly boardgames with your brothers when it was too rainy for them to play outside. You weren’t one for…outside activities, normally. When you told your family you were heading out (again) on a perilous journey in search for the perfect material for your thneeds they happily reminded you about the bugs and the mud and all the terrible nasty things that were outside but you weren’t about to let gross crawly things ruin this for you. You were bigger than them and this was your destiny, you knew it was. As you stood up, you brushed aside that train of thought. There was no point in thinking about that now. You grabbed the lighter fluid and the matches from the back of your canvas wagon and, with some difficulty, you lit the fire. You had set aside two larger logs, cut in saw, for you to sit on. For whatever reason you had two. You sat one on one side of the fire and one on the other.

It felt good to sit down on something other that the flat wood of your carriage. You streeetched your legs out in front of you, wow did that feel good. The desert night was cold and the fire felt nice. You inhaled deeply the night air, the dry night air, and the smell of a crackling fire. You let you mind settle for a second letting nothing pass through it before turning it to the idea of food. You rustled up some food from the back of your humble ride, cooked, ate and cleaned up. You let the food settle in your stomach. With a sigh that was both happy and annoyed with having to get up, you stood up to set up your tent for the night when a chill crawled up your spine. A shiver that made your shoulders raise to your ears. You told yourself it was just the wind though not a breeze was blowing.

You set up your tent much easier than you lit the fire. Setting down the hammer, you brushed your hands back and forth– a job well down. You turned around and jumped, startled. Someone was sitting down by your camp site on the second log. You quickly wiped the fear off your face and replaced it with a smile.

“Hello, I didn’t see you there…,” You paused, feigning confusion before nodding with a smile, “Friend.” You made your way evenly to your log, sitting down. You congratulated yourself with your smoothness. You thought about that instead of how nervous you suddenly were.

The stranger sat just outside of the fire’s light and no matter how (as casually as you could) you leaned forward to get a better look at him you couldn’t see his face. The stranger looked fairly tall, maybe as tall as you were. He made you uncomfortable but you weren’t about to turn away someone just because you were being irrational. Your ma raised you better than that.

“Can I help you?” The stranger looked like he was wrapped in some kind of shawl like a desert nomad. That would make sense. Wait…was he wearing that when you first looked at him. You couldn’t remember. He must have been. That was the only thing that made sense. Your brow knotted. The side of your head gave a short painful throb that you wanted to attend to with your hand but you didn’t want the stranger to know you were feeling less than a hundred percent perfect. When the stranger didn’t reply you spoke up slightly louder which woke Melvin up, he whinnied at you and moved a bit from the site, “Can I get you anything to eat? I have food- food in cans and…”

The stranger held up a shadowy hand and said he already ate. Ah, well at least he spoke the same language as you did. That would have been awkward if he didn’t. The fire was dimming. It was almost out. You had planned to snuff it completely with the sand but since your guest was here you decided to let it burn out. The air between you was no longer uncomfortable, it was as though you knew him for a very long time and had no need to say words. You slid down the log until your butt hit the sand and propped your arms on the other side of the log so you could lean back and look up at the sky.

“It’s really pretty, isn’t it?” You asked the stranger and the stranger asked back, “What is?”

“The stars. There’s just so many up there,” You said as your hat was falling off your head you grabbed it without thinking loosing you precarious propped up pose and hitting the log. It hurt a bit and you winced and may have even uttered an ow. The stranger chuckled. This upset you but you tried not to show it on your face, “Back on the farm,” You said a bit winded, “I lived on a farm, you see, so like I was saying back on the farm the sky looked like this. And in the forests too, I’ve been thinking—that the sky just looks like this where ever you go even in the city when you can’t see it and you don’t really think about it until you can see it again. You think, wow, why doesn’t it look like this all the time? When I build a city it’s going to look like this all the time, everyone will be able to see the beautiful skies from the comfort of their homes.”

The stranger told you that your city sounded like a nice place to live and you agreed with him that it was going to be. You leaned back on the log, pushing your hat forward some and crossed your arms loosely against your thin chest. You brought your legs close to you. It was getting cold and whether you realized it or not this position made you feel safe.

You didn’t feel much like talking. Which was a rare thing for you. While the air between you and this man was a comfortable one you still wanted him gone but you knew you couldn’t turn him away. You tossed an argument in your head about what to do. The silence between the two of you lacked tension, the desert was silent except for the dying crackled of the fire. It was almost completely gone when you made up your mind.

“Well, I’m heading her into bed,” You pushed yourself up off the ground, standing up with a exaggerated groan and a sleepy stretch. You slightly turned your back to the stranger, “You’re welcomed to join me, I can set up the other tent. I knew packing two would come in handy.”

For some reason, even though your back was turned to the man, you could feel him grinning, grinning a wide ear to ear grin. You didn’t want to check. You took his silence as a yes. Crossing your arms against your torso and shivering, you quickly went to your moved wagon.

“Darn donkey,” You muttered under your breath. He had moved a good couple yards from the spot. Instead of bringing him back, you just pulled out the other tent and keeping your eyes on the task at hand as you set it up next to your own.

“There! All done,” You finally turned back to the man. You thought it was a bit rude that he didn’t offer to help but you weren’t sure if you wanted him any closer to you than he already was, “I’m…” The stranger was bothering you, “Going to go in now, do you want me to douse the fire or do you have it?”

“Yes I do…” The stranger looked directly at you, up to this point you were fairly certain he was looking at the fire or down or away but now he was looking at you and even though it was very dark he looked a little familiar to you, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there soon,” The stranger said, grinning that grin that you had thought he had grinned earlier. You shivered and gave a very forced laugh. Bowing slight as though to say good night you backed up into your tent. Once you were in you breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

The next morning, the fire had not been touched nor the second tent. The stranger was no where to be seen.

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! thanks for reading! i wrote this as a return favour gift for a friend who sent me some things! its aaaabout three years old i think, i dont plan to re-touch up this older work as i am busy with newer stuff! im just getting around to posting old things up; cleaning out the closet to make room for new things!


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